$2.50 in Prague: A Simple Knitted Sweater For American Girl Dolls

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Back in 2007 there was a very popular pattern bouncing around the Craftster knitting forums called $5 in Paris – does anyone remember it? It was a very basic striped raglan sweater knitted up in acrylic yarn that you could buy for less than $5. (Of course, it would probably be more like $10 in Paris these days… hello inflation!) Lots of knitters stepped up and added their own touch to the pattern. I knitted up a tunic-length version with waist-shaping and elbow-length sleeves and I named it $5 in Prague.

I was recently inspired to knit a similar simple sweater for my American Girl Doll as I’m testing out a pattern generator I’m developing. I call this sweater $2.50 in Prague! (Get it? Because it’s half the size! Also, as it turns out, that is about how much this costs to make!)

“Wait! What did you say about a pattern generator?” you may be asking… Well, I’m as passionate about spreadsheets as I am about knitting, so I created a special Sheet with all the formulas to generate a raglan sweater pattern for an American Girl Doll. You can use any needles or yarn you’d like: just plug in your gauge and my formulas will adapt the pattern to match. It’s easy!

The generator is basically ready to go, but I think it would be helpful if I make an instruction video to accompany it, so I’m not ready to release it quite yet, but here is a sneak peek at the prototype:

I’ve knitted a bunch of these little sweaters as test knits using solid colors, but this is the first one I’ve done in stripes and I love how it turned out! It has really inspired me to think of other ways I can play with color or texture using this generator and I can’t wait until I share it with you all and see what you come up with too!

If you are interested in testing out the pattern generator, leave a comment to let me know. I need some encouragement to stop procrastinating about making that instruction video!

If you love American Girl Dolls, check out some of the other sweaters I’ve knitted for my doll here. And, if you love tech too, you’ll definitely want to check out my post about using AI tools to create American Girl-style storybooks to accompany your knits!

And now, here are the project details for this sweater:

yarn details

Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Lilac and Seafoam
Fingering Weight
Fiber Content
Machine Wash & Dry
50 g/218 yd balls

project details

needles: US size 2.5 (3 mm), nickel-plated fixed circular needles
gauge: 7 stitches & 9 rows over 1 inch in stockinette
yarn used: 57 yards Lilac (about 25% of a ball) and 44 yards Seafoam (about 20% of a ball)
finished size: length: about 6”
duration: August 19-28, 2023

notes

• If anyone is keeping track, this actually was about $2.50 worth of yarn! I used nearly a quarter of each of the balls, and they are about $5 each! (I used leftovers from my Clara Cardigan)
• Stripes are 6 rows high